Returning to '97, creating a new life

We all celebrated the New Year together, and on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, we went straight to pay our respects to each other.

Every family has children, and Sun Xiuyun's siblings and their generation decided to stop giving gifts to each other and not give anything to anyone, so that no one would need to prepare anything.

Every year on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the two elderly people would give each child who came to pay their respects a red envelope containing ten yuan. This year, the amount was increased to twenty yuan per person.

Like Xu Kai, who has never seen New Year's money since childhood, most of his peers are the same. This joy is not very real, as it is almost always taken away by their parents. Compared to the excuse of "I'll save it for you" later, there is no excuse in the present.

Relatives don't give red envelopes; instead, parents give their children a little lucky money as pocket money during the Chinese New Year.

Sun Xiuyun played mahjong all night and was still full of energy, with absolutely explosive fighting power. Twenty years later, she is still the same. Although she is a little overweight, she can still maintain a healthy body after a physical examination without exercising. If Xu Kai did not have this foresight, he might have stopped his mother from being so careless about her health when she was still young.

Early in the morning, she slipped Xu Kai a large red envelope containing 1000 yuan, gave him a look that told him to quickly put it away and not let others see it. The sentiment between mother and son was auspicious, and she didn't want to attract attention.

Starting from the first day of the Lunar New Year, Sun Xiuyun and her generation still gathered together to play mahjong, cards, and drink. By the time it came to Xu Kai's generation, the gatherings almost automatically ended. Although it was quite fun for the siblings to get together, including setting off fireworks and staying up all night last night, it still wasn't as enjoyable and smooth as having fun with classmates and friends.

With some money in his pocket, he made plans to go out with his classmates early on. Even Sun Wei, who was only in the first year of junior high school, made plans to go to the park and go shopping with her female classmates.

With Wang Lei's help, the junior high school reunion started on the first day of the Lunar New Year. It wasn't any different because of the special day. We played together during the day and went to our grandparents' house in the evening. We could leave on our own when it was time. Otherwise, the adults would be playing cards and drinking. While you enjoy your New Year's entertainment, it's better for us young people to go out and play during the day than to stay at home.

A dozen or so people came, but Zhang Chunlei went to join the army, and Xu Kai didn't have any close friends left.

Huang Lili, a neighbor and classmate, came to visit. She was studying at a financial school (vocational school) in the city. Obviously, the school rules and regulations of this type of school are not so strict. Compared to when she was in junior high school, she had dyed her hair and wore makeup. She thought she had matured a lot, but she seriously stepped into Xu Kai's dislike zone.

He was immature, pretending to be mature, and his clothes and makeup made him look like a child wearing a coat. After a brief chat, Xu Kai went to the side to talk to someone else. Huang Lili just kept her head down. She was sensitive enough at her age. Her enthusiasm hadn't been reciprocated. Didn't she understand what that meant? She sighed inwardly. As a neighbor, she knew some vague things about Xu Kai's family. Recently, everyone was saying that his family had become rich. Xu Kai even drove a Jetta to school.

"Class monitor..."

Xu Kai didn't expect that Tong Dan, the former class monitor who was transferred to the top classes (Class 1 and Class 2) after the third year of junior high school due to her grades, would also come. After being reborn, they had only crossed paths once.

"Hello, big star." Tong Dan smiled at him. In a proper high school, Xu Kai was now a superstar in the entire Songcheng.

Volleyball, table tennis, and football have always been major sports in schools and have received a lot of attention and support from schools and higher education authorities.

Basketball has risen to prominence in the last two years, becoming a synonym for passion and excitement, with its intense competition giving people a thrilling, adrenaline-pumping experience.

The number of ordinary students playing basketball on campus jumped to No. 1, while football could only take second place.

Xu Kai, representing Songcheng No.1 High School, won the championship of the first National 3-on-3 Challenge. This is the first national competition at the high school level. What is the significance of winning the championship?

Since winning the championship, many school teams have visited and learned from his high school, and it's normal for them to play a game together. After returning home, the people who came with him spread the word about how amazing he was, and Xu Kai became even more legendary.

Tong Dan got into No. 2 High School, which was considered one of the second-tier high schools in Songcheng. After the school copied Xu Kai's competition data in Yanjing from No. 1 High School, he was already a big star on both the high school and junior high school campuses. The powerful and beautiful dunks that soared into the air, the smiles on his faces when he lifted the championship trophy, all made Tong Dan feel a jumble of memories.

He didn't really remember this classmate well. He never imagined that in such a short time, he would become someone he couldn't catch up to no matter how hard he tried.

To be honest, Tong Dan came to this class reunion because of Xu Kai. Perhaps there were some teenage thoughts between boys and girls, but more than that, she hoped to continue the relationship between classmates.

Leaving aside the future, which is too far off for her to see at her age, just looking at the present, when her classmates ask if Xu Kai was her junior high school classmate, she can barely nod. When her girlfriends ask her about Xu Kai, she can't say much either. Some of the bolder ones even want to go to the high school gate to see what Xu Kai looks like in real life, wanting to see him up close. They invite Tong Dan, saying, "After all, you're classmates. If you meet, say hello and introduce us too."

They strolled around the area near the Second Railway Middle School. Since it was cold, Wang Lei suggested that they go to the Commercial Building to roller skate and try their luck at claw machines.

Faced with Tong Dan's sudden enthusiasm, Xu Kai immediately saw through it. Fortunately, there was nothing messy about her little scheme, and she still had plenty of naivety. So he didn't refuse. He took her hand, taught her how to skate, protected her while she skated, and guided her while she skated.

"Brother Kai!"

Xu Kai looked up and saw Dong Bin, Fei Wenxin, Fang Jinyao, and Bai Rui (the top student in the back row of the class), along with several members of the basketball team, standing at the entrance, waving at him.

These people are so tall that even without wearing roller skates to "increase their height," they stand out from the crowd. Even if they wear their own clothes instead of school uniforms, and even if they still have some fuzz on their lip, they won't be mistaken for students. The sense of pressure from their height is too strong. They are the kind of people that ordinary people wouldn't dare to mess with when they come to these kinds of places.

"Huh?" Xu Kai was taken aback when he saw the chubby, dark-skinned man who wasn't with Dong Bin. He chuckled and said, "Zhang Peng, are you out relaxing today too?"

"Uh, um." They were elementary school classmates and high school classmates, but Zhang Peng wasn't close to Xu Kai, his old classmate. They hadn't interacted much in the past half semester, and he buried himself in his studies every day.

Seeing Zhang Peng take out money to buy roller skating tickets for Dong Bin and Bai Rui, Xu Kai gave the two of them a look.

"We were playing billiards in the underground mall when we ran into him playing video games with his little brother who's in elementary school. When they came out, a few lads almost robbed them of their money. They're all classmates, so we just stepped in. Now, he's taken his little brother home and he's come out with us."

Xu Kai nodded. It turned out that the stereotypical image of a dull and naive academic genius was not entirely genuine.

Fei Wenxin grabbed Xu Kai's neck and said, "Brother Kai, what's wrong with you? You're not behaving yourself. Don't you know this is the boss's territory? You dare to bring girls here. Aren't you afraid the boss will castrate you?"

Xu Kai rolled his eyes at him: "We talked on the phone. She went to her grandparents' house for lunch and will be able to come out this afternoon."

Dong Bin chuckled and held out his hand to Fei Wenxin. The latter sighed, took out five yuan from his pocket, and slapped it into Dong Bin's hand. "Big sister, why are you so unreliable? How could you trust Brother Kai so much?"

"This idiot." Bai Rui was the kind of guy who relied solely on his brains to get into the ranks of good students without actually studying. According to his homeroom teacher Huang Jian, who had tried to discipline him several times, "If you just put your mind to it a little, you'll definitely be in the top 100 in the grade."

Don't underestimate the value of a school that sends a dozen or so students to Tsinghua and Peking Universities every year. Is it bad for someone who spends all day reading novels and comics, not doing their homework, and hanging around in the back row to get a ranking of 130 or 140?

After becoming familiar with Fei Wenxin, Bai Rui consistently helped Dong Bin, causing a significant change in the previously balanced power dynamic between the two.

Fei Wenxin grabbed Bai Rui by the neck with both hands and shook him. Bai Rui moved his body in response to Fei Wenxin's movements, then stuck out his tongue, looking like he was about to be strangled to death.

After a while, Bai Rui gave Fei Wenxin a roller skating ticket. Although Fei Wenxin's family was not well-off, he could still afford to treat others to a few dollars during the Chinese New Year. After returning from training with the Northeast Tigers before the New Year, Fei Wenxin would go to the garage arcade whenever he had time and continue his "mouse stealing oil" mode. He would stay there all day and win five, seven or eight dollars, which was not too little. Twenty or thirty dollars was the norm. His goal was to make some money every day and then play the other arcade machines for free.

Fang Jinyao has been having a tough time lately, physically due to the intense training he's been undergoing; but mentally, he's been enjoying himself immensely. He's basically qualified for a special admission spot at a top university that exceeds his academic performance, and his academic requirements aren't that bad for him to meet.

It's Chinese New Year, and since the family already has money and our son's future is pretty much set, the elders are giving us even more lucky money, and the parents are also giving us big red envelopes.

Fang Jinyao didn't cover all the roller skating tickets, but he did cover all the soda and claw machine tokens afterwards.

Because of Xu Kai, Wang Lei also knew this group of people and greeted them.

Suddenly, Xu Kai's classmates from two different age groups, who didn't realize it when they weren't together, became very different once they were. The true value of a provincial key high school, the pride and superiority it exuded, was immediately apparent in their demeanor.

Students from schools with low academic prestige can still boast that they are all bookworms who only know how to study.

Uh.

With Fei Wenxin, Dong Bin, and the others standing there, the basketball team's reputation was so high that no one dared to say anything sarcastic.

Fortunately, Xu Kai ignored Dong Bin and the others, greeted them, and continued playing with his junior high school classmates, thus protecting their self-esteem.

In this day and age, when there are many people, no one will arrange lunch when people go out to play together, and there is no concept of eating lunch at all.

Before going out, everyone would have a hearty breakfast, play all day, and then go home for dinner after the event. Since most people didn't have much money, having to split the bill for lunch, even if it was a separate expense, would be discouraging. Over time, everyone accepted that if they agreed to meet, they would arrive at the agreed-upon location around 9 or 10 am, having eaten their fill to ensure they had the energy to play for seven or eight hours straight.

Things got a little better in high school, but few people organized this activity. Everyone just played around and felt like there wasn't enough time before it got dark. The feeling of hunger faded away while having fun.

Xu Kai didn't try to stand out or act like a big shot. He simply used the excuse that he had a lot of lucky money during the Chinese New Year to treat everyone to chilled bottled Coke. The indoor temperature wasn't low in the dead of winter, and everyone was sweating from roller skating. After inserting a straw and taking a sip of the chilled Coke, everyone felt refreshed from the inside out.

Upon hearing Xu Kai's words, Wang Lei remained silent. Only he knew clearly that the Xu Kai standing before these people was no longer the poor boy who used to shiver and stamp his feet while setting up a stall at the school gate wearing a thick cotton coat.

And their understanding of Xu Kai hasn't been developed yet...

What was that saying again? Xu Kai said it, uh, right, data update.